Transcendence

Transcendence is a heavy outfit with obvious progressive influences. Their style covers the gamut from dark ambience to soaring vocals to crushing riffs. When writing, the band focuses on melody, harmony, and complex chord progressions with numerous hooks. Transcendence rose up around Kirk Wood and Jon Von Rosenberg who had been in a local heavy outfit called Infrared which released one CD prior to disbanding due to personal issues. Kirk and John Von decided to trek out again and find an established band in need of a rhythm section. They came across an experimental band called O'Clock in the classifieds and contacted one John Howser. After the tryout, Kirk and John Von decided that they needed to start from scratch and put their own group together. Enter guitarist, Jeff Ford. After one meeting and a push-start of Jeff's car, Kirk and John Von invited Jeff to join the fledgling band. The next goal: finding a singer...
After trying out many singers (one claimed to be the Metal Master and turned out to be the Metal Loser), John Von met Greg Drew Greg was hosting a Karaoke night and John Von liked what he heard. He invited Greg to come out. The trio showed Greg their song "No Trace." Greg picked up the mike and blew them all away. They knew at that point their search for a singer was over, but something was still missing.
Kirk, on a whim, dug up John Jowser's number. He contacted him to see if he available. When they gave Howser "Filtered Lenses" to try on for size, they found the missing element. The four members agreed that Howser was what they were looking for to complete their sound and asked him to join the group.
1998 has been a crucial period for Transcendence. The new rehearsal complex, completed in the Summer, gave way to the recording of their first album - "The Meridian Project." Since then, Transcendence has been juggling their time between promotion, tour rehearsal, and the beginnings of the continuation of this adventure...